QUESTION: Steve & George: Have either of you identified the Thomas CODY and/or the Judah STACEY?
The starting point of my recent research is the Revolutionary War pension of William Cornett of Perry Co., KY. He was born in Henrico Co., VA, moved to Russell Co., VA and then to Perry Co., KY. He and his second wife Mary Ann Everage were married in Washington/Sullivan Co., TN in 1796. There are many depositions in the pension file that lay out much of his family.
Notably is the deposition of one Thomas Cody:
"Thomas Cody of Perry Co., KY, 25 January 1853. Thomas Cody declares he was born in 1783 and has been a resident of Kentucky since 1804. His grandmother Judah Stacy raised Mary (Everage Cornett) as a child until she married William Cornett. Mary married about 55 or 56 years ago. William was then a middle aged man and had children. Mary had two children but was never married before she married Cornett. She had Sally and Polly before she married. Sally was the eldest and married Thomas McDaniel and Polly married Robt. S. Brashers, Probate Judge of Perry County. Mary was considered one of his family and was married at the house of George Morrison in Sullivan Co., Tenn. Squire Gaines, a justice of the peace, married them. A short time after they were married Cornet left for the mountains of Kentucky and seven or eight years afterward he left for Kentucky with his father, hunting for elk and buffalo, and found William Cornett and his wife in a camp at the mouth of Bull Creek, a branch of the north fork of the Kentucky River. This was in 1804. Mary and Cornett were marrried but a short distance from where his father lived, as all the family were present, as his grandmother Stacy had helped to raise Mary. William had children Robert, Nancy, Roger, Samuel, Nathaniel, Rachael, Joseph E. and an infant not named. These were the children Mary had by him after their marriage."
I interpret the above abstract to mean that Thomas Cody was born in 1783, moved to Kentucky in 1804. Thomas and his father, ?William Cody, went hunting for elk and buffalo in Kentucky and found William and Mary Cornett on Bull Creek. The north fork of the Kentucky River flows along the county line of Floyd and Perry Co., KY. Mary and William were married in Washington Co., TN, a short distance from where Thomas Cody's father lived (in Russell Co., VA). Judah (Judy) Stacy was Thomas Cody's grandmother.
Thomas Cody's father was William Cody of Surry Co., NC, one of the Tory brothers (Thomas, William, John, Godfrey, &c), sons of Pierce Cody of 1727> SpottsCoVA> 1741 OrangeCoVA> 1746 LunenCoVA (1749PittsCoVA)> 1759 RowanCoNC> (RandCoNC). I am trying to prove/disprove that William Cody apparently married ___ Stacy, daughter of Judah ___ and ___ Stacy. I have been able to trace Judah ___ Stacy in Surry Co., NC:
1784 July 12. Last Will & Testament of Thomas Pettit, Sr; wife Judith, son Thomas, wife's son Simon Stacy, daughter Mary Ransom. Executors Judith Pettit and Thomas Pettit. Witness: John Burch, William Cook; proved by William Cook, recorded Feb Court 1786.
I believe that this is Judah (Judy/Judith) Stacy, grandmother of Thomas Cody, b.c1783. She has a son Simon Stacy who was named in the will. My interpretation is that Judah ___ Stacy' second husband was Thomas Pettit, Sr. All the children named were adults.
Judith Pettit was living in 1785 Surry Co adjoining Thomas Cody (Tory), brother of William Cody (also a Tory).
William Cody moved to Montgomery Co., VA before 1784 when Nancy Cody married David Thompson. She was named in the marriage bond as the daughter of William Cody, who was the witness. In 1806 David and Nancy Cody Thompson sold land on Moccosin Creek in Russell Co., VA adjoining Samuel Cornett, which ties William Cody to the Cornett line, later of Perry Co., KY.
William Cody was on the 1787 Tax list of Montgomery County, along with David Thompson (and many other Thompsons) and a William Cornett. In 1788 William left Montgomery Co, as indicated in the Tax Record of delinquents. He is next found on the 1789 Tax List of Russell Co., VA (Upper District), along with David Thompson and Simon Stacy (along with other Thompsons, Stacys and Combs).
By 1790, Judith Stacy Pettit was living in Russell Co., VA (Upper District) along with William Cody. Between 1796 and 1802, the Russell Co. Tax lists reveal the names of some of William's sons, John, Thomas and Zedekiah. Thomas was first named in 1802. These dates and locations coincide with the depositions in the Revolutionary War Pension Application of William Cornett. Specifically that Mary Everage was raised by Judith Stacy and all lived in the Washington Co., VA/TN, Sullivan Co., TN and surrounding area. Mary Everage would have been raised in the household of Judith in Russell Co., VA. One deponent, Sally Stapleton (22 Jan 1853), age 90 stated the she had known William Cornett and his wife Mary Everage at least sixty years. She knew Mary before she married Cornet and she lived in the same neighborhood. "She thinks they lived in Russell Co., VA".